TIFF24 REVIEW: Bergers [Shepherds] [2024]

Rating: NR | Runtime: 113 minutes
Release Date: November 15th, 2024 (Canada)
Director(s): Sophie Deraspe
Writer(s): Sophie Deraspe

You make me sick.

You can’t help feeling jealous when Mathyas Lefebure (Félix-Antoine Duval) follows a very pregnant pause on the voicemail serving to cut all ties to his former life in Canada with the above words to his former bosses. The relief in his smile—alongside the consolation that he’s still sorry for leaving nonetheless—is enough to fully invest in whatever road he decides to travel now that his credit is tapped in France. Yes, even when he chooses the insane idea to become a sheep herder in the Provence region without a shred of experience. Mathyas walks into a tavern of breeders with a pile of makeshift business cards asking them to give him a chance. Talk about bold.

Based on the 2006 book that Lefebure is writing on-screen via the sporadic narration that describes his state-of-mind after major events along the way, Sophie Deraspe’s Shepherds proves an inspiring film about reinventing oneself outside of the societal conventions dictated by modern day capitalism. Mathyas was a slogan writer at an ad agency when he had his moment of epiphany to escape the duplicitously greedy world of corporate profiteering. It therefore makes sense he would decide to embark on a career whose margins have tanked as newly restrictive laws make solvency impossible. No one could dare tell him he was all talk and no action upon witnessing the “creature comforts” of this so-called dream.

He sticks with it, though. After an organized breeder regrets telling him he doesn’t have time to train a complete novice now that spring has arrived. After his first apprenticeship is with a crazy man whose wife neglected to explain why their previous shepherd suddenly quit. After surviving an apocalyptic lightning storm on the summit of a mountain (an unforgettably harrowing scene). Mathyas just keeps going. He doesn’t remain innocent considering what he’s had to endure and do himself, but his connection to nature only grows with eyes wide open. It helps that his metamorphosis into a nomad influences civil servant Élise (Solène Rigot) to join the adventure. The rewards overshadow the cost easier when you aren’t alone.

As Mathyas admits to Élise upon their reunion after a series of letters that romanticized his new occupation, shepherding is a violent job. While Deraspe does well not to show the acts themselves in gruesome detail (with the aftermath also proving tasteful thanks to a severed sheep leg being the most graphic things get), there’s no pretending that temper, stress, and grief aren’t firmly in control. Sometimes the violence is accidental where the consequences are concerned, but never in the lack of discipline that allows it to happen in the first place. Mathyas can look the other way for a lot knowing he’s still somewhat of an interloper. But, at a certain point, the continued assault on decency becomes unjustifiable.

It’s a truth both he and Élise must reconcile. And maybe they can since this isn’t something that’s been in their blood for generations. Whereas men like Ahmed (Michel Benizri) and Tellier (Bruno Raffaelli) know nothing but the back-breaking hours and anxiety that comes with one mistake costing you everything, Mathyas has perspective. If abuse isn’t working, try something calmer. Maybe you can love these animals and want to protect them instead of dismissing them as property to bend to your whims. This is the danger inherent to dying trades. Those born into it resent it and outsiders drawn to its romanticism are scared away. Neither side can be blamed considering the tightrope act takes more than it gives.

That’s why Mathyas is poised to rewrite the story of herding. He’s seen the hollow existence of city life and knows the soul-sucking nature of sitting at a desk for years with nothing of substance to show for it. So, when he looks at his scarred and calloused hands after a year of farmwork, it’s not a sign that he should quit. It’s a testament to making a difference. He’s no longer living for himself with hundreds of sheep now under his wing. And the life and death attitude he once experienced on the eve of made-up deadlines becomes quaint considering this job is truly about survival. The lives of these animals and the communities that rely upon them literally hang in the balance.

Duval carries the weight of that fact in his performance. We see it both when he can’t stop himself from breaking down in response to the horrors surrounding him and when he’s able to stand still and bask in the glory of the demanding yet rewarding life he’s begun to carve out of the French countryside. The supporting cast is great thanks to the aforementioned actors, Guilaine Londez, and David Ayala. And the cinematography captures the magisterial nature of this centuries-old art whether in claustrophobic pens or wide expanses of green grass. It’s brutal in its beauty, but also tangibly real in its seemingly foreign realm of existence. Mathyas will never take his comfort for granted again.